Nature-Nurture Approaches

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Psychological Approaches - Nature/Nurture Debate

There are five psychological approaches: psychodynamic, biological, cognitive, behaviourist, and humanistic. They vary on where they fall on the nature-nurture spectrum.

The psychodynamic approach

The psychodynamic approach is an interaction of nature and nurture.
Freud believed that personalities were due to both innate instincts (nature) and experiences (nurture).
- The instincts manifest themselves in the id (the animalistic drive to find food, mates and shelter).

The psychodynamic approach cont.

But experiences will also influence and shape personality.
- For example, experiences during certain stages can result in fixations.
If a child experiences too much pleasure during the oral stage of development, this can result in oral fixations such as smoking or nail-biting.

The biological approach

The biological approach is solely a nature approach.
The approach looks at the role of genetics, brain structure, brain chemistry, and behaviour.

The biological approach cont.

Generally, genetic traits are passed down from generation to generation if they are advantageous to our survival.
- For example, aggression in males and caring in females is beneficial to the survival of offspring.
But because learning can happen, the environment still has influence.
- For example, learning can overcome genetic predispositions in brain structure.

Psychological Approaches - Nature/Nurture Debate

There are five psychological approaches: psychodynamic, biological, cognitive, behaviourist, and humanistic. They vary on where they fall on the nature-nurture spectrum.

The cognitive approach

The cognitive approach leans towards the nature side. But there is some influence of the environment.
The cognitive development theory by Piaget states that for innate genetic processes to happen, environmental influences still must be present.

Piaget

Piaget states that all children are born with the innate ability to develop.
These are in the form of reflexes and senses.
But these need to have environmental input to progress.

The behaviourist approach

The behaviourist approach, as opposed to the biological approach, falls deeply on the nurture side.
Social learning relies heavily on those surrounding the person.
Behaviours are learnt from others through conditioning.
The few exceptions would be innate abilities like swallowing, blinking, breathing, etc.

The humanistic approach

Finally, the humanistic approach also falls on the nurture end of the spectrum with one component on the nature side.
Self-actualisation is when a person achieves their full potential.
There is a basic need to want to do so. So this is one component of the humanistic approach that is on the nature side.
To be able to self-actualise, people need to experience the world. So the environment is crucial.